Weber Shandwick - ActionAid UK Video

Company: Weber Shandwick, London, United KingdomCompany Description: Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations firm with offices in more than 80 countries. The firm’s diverse team of thinkers, strategists, analysts, producers, designers, developers and campaign activators has won the most prestigious awards in the world for innovative, creative approaches and impactful work.Nomination Category: Video CategoriesNomination Sub Category: P.R.: Other

Nomination Title: ActionAid UK, #BrutalCut

Date this production was first released/publicly viewed: 15 July 2016.

Briefly describe this entry's communications objectives and how it met those objectives (up to 200 words):

Three million girls in Africa are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) each year. ActionAid challenged us to get more people in the UK talking about this uncomfortable subject.

To highlight this most brutal of cuts, we created a #BrutalCut of our own: a 10-second #BrutalCut video message from Kenyan girls facing FGM, that would be unexpectedly cut into content.

Without warning on launch day, the message interrupted vlogger videos, content from digital publishers, influencer and celebrity posts, cinema ads, festival screens and outdoor digital ads to deliver the message: “This cut might be irritating, but some cuts are life-destroying”.

Our disruptive video had a total reach of over 152 million, with 9,204,218 views of influencer, celebrity and publisher content featuring the #BrutalCut.

On a minimal budget, our video and innovative use of influencers and media sparked thousands of conversations in solidarity with young girls at risk of FGM: there were 12.8 million Twitter impressions from 1,001 mentions of #BrutalCut, sparking 1,148 conversations about the need to “end cutting”.

The video campaign helped ActionAid secure £250,000 in funding from players of the People's Postcode Lottery to build community safe centres to protect Kenyan

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